The Way It Is
by banishthegloom
Summary: After missing a meeting with her probation officer, a new student is sent to Horizon.
1. Chapter 1

Leah was crying. Tears dripping down her face with large gulping, gasping sobs crying. She couldn't seem to contain the cry. She had been sad but quiet for most of the trip to Horizon, but as they entered the parking lot and she seen the sign it hit her. This was truly happening and it was so unfair. The world was unfair of course, but never before had she felt it to be so cruel and cold.

As Peter walked down the stairs at the front of the main office building he seen the new student. He had seen the van that she had been transported in from Juvie. After greeting the two officers that were sent to accompany her on the trip he turned to Leah. She had stepped out of the van as the officers had instructed her but she was still crying steadily.

Peter frowned. It was rare that someone first arriving at Horizon would be crying. It happened every once in a while of course, but generally new students were angry or sulking. Over half the crying students were using one last ditch effort to get their parents to change their mind. He could tell this wasn't the case with Leah. She had after all arrived in the Juvie transportation van with no parents around. He felt bad for her. It was difficult to admit the criers. It was harder to find the words that would reach them.

Peter nodded to the two officers that he had this and they could go and led Leah to his office. As she walked there she was barely conscious of what was going on, so overwhelming was her distress. Peter let Leah sit in the chair for a while and didn't say anything. He hoped she might calm down a little before the admittance began. Leah was sixteen years old and overweight with pale skin and long hair that was a colour between blond and brown. She wore glasses and had on a floral dress that went down to just past her knees. She was wearing blue plastic flip flop shoes.

After a few minutes when it didn't seem like she was going to calm down by herself Peter decided to start her admit.

"Welcome to Mount Horizon High School. I am Peter Scarborough, the counselor for the Cliffhangers, which is the group you've been placed in." Leah took a few deep breaths as if trying to stop crying, but the attempt was unsuccessful.

"Do you know why you are here Leah?" Peter asked, prompting the girl to speak. Leah took a moment to find her words.

"Yeah and it's really unfair." Leah said.

"Why is that?" Peter asked, hoping to learn more about her mindset.

"I was sent here for violating probation, but I didn't do anything wrong with that. I didn't mean to miss my appointment with my probation officer. I worked really hard not to miss any of the appointments, but it didn't even matter anyway." The girl said through sobs. The facts she had said matched her file. She had been put on probation after being caught smoking pot and the violation of probation was that she had missed a meeting with her probation officer. She was sent to Horizon instead of Juvie because there had been no trace of drugs in her system since her original charge and they had drug tested her every week when she seen the probation officer.

Peter wondered about her side of the story though. Leah freely admitted to missing the meeting after all. Many new students would have claimed it to be a mix up or misunderstanding. He wondered if he should press for the information now or wait until it came out in an individual session or group. After all it was the judge's order she be sent to Horizon so it didn't matter what Peter though about her guilt or innocence in that matter. He decided to move on with her admit. There would be plenty of time to talk about the rest of her story later. Besides, even though she was still crying she had calmed down enough to be coherent at least.

"Well, the rules here are simple. There are no drugs, no alcohol, no sex, and no inappropriate touching. Horizon is a safe place. Which is why every student's bags are checked when they first come in." Peter explained starting the bag check. There wasn't much in the one duffle bag she had brought with her. The duffle itself was faded grey with stains on it and he guessed that it may have been used as a gym bag in the past. Inside were the regular toiletries, a disposable cell phone, a bottle of light pink nail polish, a bottle of peach nail polish, a bottle of light blue nail polish, and a few clothes. No drugs, alcohol, or even electronics other than a cell phone.

"Cellphones and make up aren't allowed." Peter told Leah as he set the items aside. "Otherwise everything is good."

"You expected me to smuggle in drugs didn't you?" Leah asked. She had stopped crying but was looking at him with red tear streamed eyes. Her eyes had a hint of anger to them as though she felt she had just been falsely accused.

"Many students attempt to." Peter stated simply. Leah didn't say another word as she went to the infirmary for her checkup and to have her clothing searched. After she left Peter went to his desk, took out her file, and added a few notes.


	2. Chapter 2

Leah's first week at Horizon was uneventful. She was withdrawn, talking to people as required and being polite about it but not really making any friends. It was in group that she finally started to talk more.

"Everyone go around and give one word to describe how you are feeling. Ezra start off." Peter said.

"Hopeful. Scott." Ezra said.

"Determined. Juliette." Scott continued.

"Wistful. Daisy." Juliette replied.

"Deteriorating. Shelby." Daisy stated.

"Hopeless. Auggie." Shelby said with a frown and a sigh.

"Eh well. I don't know. Progressive, I guess. Like making progress or whatever. Kat." Auggie said thinking.

"Excited! Leah." Kat exclaimed.

"Upset." Leah stated with little emotion.

"All right everyone now let's go around the room and hear why you feel the way you do. Ezra." Peter said clapping his hands together once.

"I'm hopeful because I think my life is finally starting to come together. My parents may never get back together, but that's okay. Life can still go on. I can still make something good out of it." Ezra explained.

"Good." Peter said. "Scott."

"I have a chance for a scholarship –" Scott started to say.

He was interrupted by random exclamations of "Good job meat." "Way to go." "Hope you get it" and "That's awesome Scott." Coming from different cliffhangers before Peter settled them down again.

"Well anyway that's why I'm determined. I gotta make these college sponsorship guys see what I'm worth." Scott finished. Peter nodded with a big smile on his face.

"Jules." Peter called next. Juliette squirmed in her seat for a moment before answering.

"Wistful because well, I have all these hopes but I don't really know if any of them will happen or even which ones could, like realistically happen." Jules finally said.

"Will talk about that more later." Peter said giving Juliette a look. "Daisy."

"Deteriorating because isn't that all we are really doing. All of us humans, no matter how we live our lives. Well or horribly are all just slowly deteriorating until we turn to dust and worm –" Daisy started but was cut off by Peter.

"That's enough Daisy." Peter said sternly, frowning. "Okay, Shelby."

"Mine was hopeless and honestly Peter if you didn't like Daisy's explanation you aren't going to like mine either." Shelby stated. Peter sighed. He was going to have to have a lot of one on ones sessions after this group was over. "We will talk later." He told Shelby pointedly. "Auggie."

"Well mine was um, oh yeah, progressive because I feel like I am making a lot of progress lately. I am getting better with my reading and stuff ya know?" Auggie said.

"Good. Kat." Peter said.

"I am excited, so excited! Guys I got a scholarship! It's not a full ride but with a part time job I will be able to go to college! I have filled out so many applications that I had almost given up hope, but one finally came back approved!" Kat exclaimed with a huge smile. The group stared a little. Usually only Juliette got that happy.

"That's wonderful Kat. Good job!" Peter exclaimed. "Leah."

"I'm upset because I'm here." Leah said frowning.

"We need you to expand up that Leah. You are going to be here for a while so that isn't a good enough answer." Peter told her. Leah sighed and frowned deeper.

"Fine. I am upset about a lot of things. Most of them have to do with being here. I was sent here unfairly. I am worried about my family. And no one is going to feed the cat." Leah said.

"Cat?" Juliette asked. Peter was going to intervene but decided against it.

"Yeah. This was this cat that used to wander into our trailer. It didn't belong to anyone but I sort of took care of it when it came around.

"It just wandered in? What you didn't keep your window closed?" Shelby asked sarcastically.

"We didn't usually. We did in winter. Anyway people were always stopping by so sometimes the cat would get in through the door." Leah explained.

"Stopping by?" Daisy asked. She had a suspicion and wanted to see if it was right.

"Yeah people would just drop by all the time. If we weren't there sometimes they would wait around on our couch. If no one came back for too long they would leave." Leah answered nonchalantly.

"Didn't your family lock the door?" Juliette asked sounding a bit snobby.

"Not usually. And even when we did it wasn't that hard to get into our trailer." Leah stated.

"You weren't by any chance selling drugs?" Daisy asked bluntly.

"No! Of course not. We weren't selling anything." Leah answered angrily. "Everyone just stopped in wherever in our neighborhood. We stopped by other people's trailers, they stopped by ours. It's just how it is where I live."

"Okay guys, good group. Lights out is in 30 minutes so back to your cabins." Peter announced suddenly. Everyone dispersed. Peter decided that he would start the one on one sessions tomorrow morning. It was too late tonight and a night's sleep might help his cliffhanger's think about things more.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Peter started calling students out of class for one on one meetings right away. He wasn't sure how so many of the cliffhanger's had unresolved problems at once. Granted, every student at Horizon did, but not usually the sort that sent up red flags for attention in Peter's mind. He started with Daisy because he couldn't tell whether her answer in group had been inspired by depression or just acting out. If she was only acting out then he would be able to get her session out of the way quickly. Daisy knocked on the door.

"Come in Daisy." Peter called.

"You rang?" Daisy asked, holding up the piece of paper that said she was to go to Peter's office.

"Yes, sit down." Peter said with a reassuring smile. Daisy turned the chair away from him and sat down. With any other student that might have been troubling, but Daisy always did that. He would address that issue in itself one day, but he knew to pick his battles. Peter sat a chair so the back of it was against the back of her chair as usual.

"So Daisy, you gave a very…deep answer in group last night." Peter said, hoping she would volunteer information. Daisy let out a small laugh that held no humor.

"Well, it's true. Don't worry Peter. I'm not suicidal or anything. I am just thinking things through. Questions like what is life really and how am I supposed to make my life mean anything?" Daisy said.

"You don't feel like your life has meaning?" Peter prompted.

"Peter, I am stuck in the middle of the woods where the only contact I have is with other so called troubled teens. There is no way that can be conducive to good mental health." Daisy said. Peter frowned and although she couldn't see Peter's face she somehow knew he was frowning.

"Let me rephrase that." Daisy said decidedly. "If I can't communicate with the outside world, with what people call the real world, how can I possibly do anything worthy? For that matter how can I possibly do anything at all that means anything? Sure I may help some other student inadvertently, but I doubt the success rate of this school. How many people actually graduate from here and become productive members of society in the long run?" Daisy asked.

"Okay, well, good talk Daisy. Thanks for sharing. You can go back to class now." Peter said. Daisy got up and left. Peter realized that her speech might have been a defense mechanism to get her out of his office, but he hadn't found anything other than Daisy style passive rebellion in it. It was so passive he didn't feel that he could assign her extra chores. After all, he didn't want her to stop talking to him or the other counselors. He was no longer concerned that she might be depressed, which was the point. He had gotten the information he needed. He wrote a few noted down and stuck her file back in the cabinet. Picking up the other files on his desk he shuffled through them. Who was next? He decided on Juliette and sent a note to the classroom she was in. She arrived a few minutes later.

"Hi Peter." She greeted him cheerfully.

"Hi Juliette. I wanted to talk to you about what you said in group last night. About not being sure which hopes were possible." Peter said as Juliette sat down. "What types of hopes do you have?"

"Oh, well a lot. Some of them are silly. Like I want to get married someday. I also think I might want to be a fashion designer, or a model, or maybe even a photographer. Something to do with that sort of thing. When I say it out loud it all sounds ridiculous." Juliette quickly babbled. Peter smiled reassuringly, but he was thinking that he should have let Sophie take this one.

"None of those things sound silly Jules. I think you should focus on the hopes you think fit you the most and then make goals for them. For instance getting married isn't something that can so much be put into a goal. Wanting to be a fashion designer or photographer can though." Peter said, intentionally leaving out her desire to be a model. He didn't think that would be good for her since she had an eating disorder.

"Well I like fashion and clothing a lot which is why I want to do something like that. I am not sure if I would be good at either of them though. I have never really designed anything or taken pictures. At least not anything worthy of talent." Juliette said doubtfully.

"Well if you'd like I can get you information about what type of college courses that those professions would require. If you looked at them maybe you would be able to decide what you have more interest in." Peter suggested.

"Really? Oh that would be great Peter." She said jumping up and going back to class. Peter smiled. That was easy enough. He wrote a few notes in her file, put it back in the cabinet, and then made a post it note reminding him to get the information for her. He had time for one more session before lunch and both students that were left would likely be difficult ones. He chose Leah and sent a note. It seemed like the more Shelby had time to think about things the more readily she talked to him about it.


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on in Leah." Peter called as he seen the girl poking her head in his office shyly. Without saying anything she came in and sat down.

"How are you feeling today Leah?" Peter asked.

"Okay." Leah said shrugging.

"Well," Peter began, acting much more enthusiastic than he felt, "how have you been adjusting to Horizon so far?" Leah just shrugged.

"Before you mentioned you felt you were sent here unfairly. Why is that?" Peter asked, hoping that he could show Leah the error of her logic and perhaps she would be more accepting of the fact that she had to stay at Horizon.

"I couldn't make it to the meeting with my probation officer. I tried but I couldn't get there." Leah said.

"Why not?" Peter asked.

"Ever since I was arrested and put on probation it has been a problem. I was late a few times because of the bus being late, but it was hard to even get enough bus fare. My probation officer thought that I wasn't taking it seriously but I was. I really was. You have no idea how hard it is. I didn't have a ride. Neither of my parents have a car. Any time I took the bus it was because someone gave me money when I told them how bad I needed to get to my probation officer. A few times a friend gave me a ride, but every week, every single week I had to work really hard to get there. I couldn't walk. I actually did once. It is over twenty miles. It took me all day. I had to skip school to walk and I was late that time too. I started out before the sun was even up." Leah explained, her voice full of emotion. She looked like she might start crying again. Peter was surprised as he took in this new information. Of all the things that he thought she might tell him, he wasn't expecting this. She went on before he could collect his thoughts.

"I did pot once. Once and that is the time I got caught. I know it was stupid. I know it was a mistake, but seriously people in my neighborhood have smoked pot so many times and never got busted. I get caught once, do my best to deal with the consequences, and get treated like I am not even trying or like I broke the law again. I worked so hard and no one even cares!" Leah practically screamed. Then she started crying uncontrollably again with big sobs. Peter knew he needed to do something. He needed to try a new tactic. He had to admit what happened to her didn't sound fair at all, yet there was nothing he could do to change the situation and he needed some way to help her accept it.

"Technically you did break the law again by missing your probation appointment, but it sounds like you did your best not to." Peter began. He wasn't even sure if she could hear him over her crying. She needed to see that she might be better off at Horizon.

"Leah, did you feel safe at home?" Peter asked, raising his voice a little so that she could hear him over her sobbing. Her sobbing became a little quieter and she looked up at him, her light brown eyes sorrowful and questioning.

"I guess. I mean it was home." Leah answered.

"You mentioned that a lot of people in your neighborhood did pot. Did they do other drugs too?" Peter asked.

"Hey I'm no narc." Leah said angrily. She had stopped sobbing but was still crying.

"With all those people going through your house on drugs, did you ever feel threatened?" Peter asked. Leah seemed to take a moment to think about it before answering.

"Well, not really. I mean I wasn't always comfortable with it, but nothing bad ever happened really." Leah replied sounding unsure of her answer.

"So tell me more about where you live. Is it a trailer park?" Peter asked.

"Yeah. That doesn't mean it was a bad place though. Some of our neighbors were pretty decent. When our electricity got cut off someone gave us a few blankets in the winter. I had other friends too at school. Twice one of them paid to get more minutes on my cell phone so that she would be able to text me. And one of my dad's friends lent us a propane heater once. That was another time our electricity was cut off. It was snowing then." Leah answered. She had stopped crying completely by now. Peter tried not to show surprise at how Leah had been living. While they had a few students sentence to Horizon by a court, most were sent by their parents who were able to pay the high tuition, so he wasn't used to hearing this type of thing. After the initial shock, Peter realized that even living this was Leah sounded grateful to anyone that had helped her or her family. He would try to use that.

"You don't have to work hard to get to a probation appointment here." Peter said.

"What?" Leah asked, not sure what he meant.

"At Horizon things got simpler for you. You don't have to worry about getting rides anywhere." Peter stated, hoping her mind might start seeing more benefits on its own.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She replied smiling a little. Peter was kind of strange, but he did have a point there. She wouldn't get sent to jail now. She was already at a sort of jail, but as far as jails went it could be worse. Still, I shouldn't have to be anywhere, she thought with a scowl. Peter seen that he had given her some food for thought and decided it was best to end there.


	5. Chapter 5

As Leah was walking to the cafeteria the rest of the Cliffhanger's passed her looking exhausted and like they had just come from the woods.

"You are so lucky you missed that!" Juliette told her. "Sophie made us do the rock climbing and ropes course right after you left." Leah smiled.

"Course they waited. Fatty here might have caused an avalanche. They probably didn't want to risk her pulling down the mountain." Shelby said. Leah was shocked. What had she done to Shelby? Her eyes stung. Before she could think of anything to say, Sophie appeared beside Shelby.

"Two weeks chopping wood Shelby. Now apologize. You know better than to treat someone like that." Sophie said angrily.

"Whatever." Shelby said and started walking away. Sophie stepped in front of her blocking her way.

"Apologize. Now. Unless you want to make it a month of wood chopping." Sophie demanded. Shelby rolled her eyes and looked back at Leah.

"Sorry." Shelby said with a smile and tilted head, all sarcasm.

"Now go wash up and then Peter wanted to see you." Sophie said sternly. She knew Shelby's apology had been less than sincere but she also knew Shelby, and pushing it further would only get more of the same if not even more insults at Leah.

Leah had already walked away while no one was paying attention. No one seen her at lunch but she was in her class after lunch as usual as if nothing had happened. Juliette looked at her sympathetically, but didn't say anything. She would just die if someone had said that to her. That's why it is so important to be skinny, she thought to herself, the world is harsh.

Meanwhile…

Shelby knocked on Peter's door. When she entered he could tell right away that she was in a bad mood. Maybe I should have waited a little longer after the ropes course, he thought to himself.

"Ah Shelby. You look like you have something on your mind. Care to share?" Peter asked. Ugh, does Peter always have to be so freaking cheerful sounding? Shelby wondered.

"I'm guessing I don't really have a choice. I find I don't have a choice about a lot of things. Like climbing a stupid mountain before lunch." Shelby said. She figured if she hit him with immediate complaints that maybe he would forget to dig into anything deeper.

"I know that's not what's bothering you Shel." Peter stated.

"Oh well, if you know so much, what is bothering me Peter?" Shelby asked, full of attitude.

"That I don't know. So why don't you tell me?" Peter said remaining cheerful. Shelby sighed. What to tell him? Why did everything have to be so complicated? She should have been ready for this. She should have made a list by now, all the times she had been in this situation of not wanting to talk and not having an excuse, of things to say when the subject arisen.

"Listen Peter, nothing is bothering me. I just didn't have an answer last night and I knew that after Daisy's declaration you might not ask me to explain if I said something like it." Shelby lied. Peter studied Shelby's face. He could tell she was lying. He just sat there silently for a while, hoping the tense silence might make her talk more.

"What? That's all okay. Can I go back to class now?" Shelby asked sounding annoyed.

"No." Peter said simply. Shelby sighed.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because your lying and I know your lying." Peter said.

"Why do you feel hopeless?" Peter asked after she hadn't said anything for a while.

"Peter…" Shelby practically whined the word.

"Tell me." Peter said.

"Ugh fine. It's just that…how are things supposed to get better? My family life won't. Horizon is okay but I am going to have to leave it eventually. I'm not exactly a whiz in school. I will probably end up as a waitress or working at a fast food place. I'm actually more likely to end up back on the streets as a …." She stopped herself. She was saying more than she meant to. "Anyway I don't see how things are going to get better. I don't even see how they are going to stay the same before long. All that's left is downhill." Peter sighed and looked at her. Now that was the truth. Unfortunately he wasn't sure what to say that she would believe to prove her wrong.

"If you are that worried you could be working toward something. Kat just got a scholarship after all. You could apply for some." Peter suggested.

"You don't get it Peter. It isn't that easy. I'm not smart okay. Not about that type of thing. I don't even want to go to college. I just want something better waiting for me." Shelby said, practically yelling.

"What would you like waiting for you Shelby?" Peter questioned.

"I don't know." Shelby said.

"Well then that's your assignment. Think about it the next few days and come up with a list of what you want in your life. Next time we meet we will go over it." Peter said. Shelby just sighed and left. A list, how very very useful, she thought sarcastically.


	6. Chapter 6

"All right Cliffhangers, move out." Peter called. It was the first camping trip since Leah had arrived at Horizon and it was just starting. Leah wasn't sure whether to be excited or nervous. She was a little of both. She had never been camping before. Surely it had to be better than classes. At least she hoped so. She had been told by the other students that camping trips happened pretty frequently at Horizon.

It was around noon when they took a break to have lunch. Leah was exhausted. She wasn't used to hiking. When she heard they would still be walking a few more hours before they set up camp she was not happy about it. She sat down away from the other Cliffhangers to eat lunch. She hadn't been eating around them since Shelby's cruel comments.

Sophie kept an eye on her. She was a little worried about Leah eating by herself every day. When she had talked it over with Peter, they came to the conclusion that as long as it didn't look like she stopped eating that they should just let it be. Sophie had noticed Leah ate less lately. She had kept an eye on it though and it still seemed like the girl ate enough. She would continue to keep an eye on the girl's eating habits.

Leah was getting water from the stream nearby. They had just started setting up camp later that day and getting water was what she had been assigned to. We are supposed to drink river water? She though unhappily. The hiking had not actually been that bad. She could tell her body wasn't used to it but she kind of enjoyed it. It was nice being so surrounded by nature. When she brought the water back to camp Peter instructed her to pour some into the cooking pot to boil. He explained that was how they purified it.

This stuff might actually be useful, Leah thought. When the water got cut off at her trailer it might be useful to know that boiling it would purify it. She wasn't sure if there was any type of natural water near her neighborhood though. She had never needed to pay attention to something like that before.

Juliette was chopping up vegetables for dinner, Shelby and Daisy were collecting wood, and Kat was back at the school doing some senior Horizon graduate thing that exempted her from the trip. Scott had started the fire earlier and Ezra and Auggie were foraging for food. When she had first heard Peter and Sophie tell the two to look for food, Leah thought they must be joking, but they had brought back a few berries and what looked like a root. Peter had determined them food safe and they were going into the stew that was going to be their dinner.

All in all Leah found the camping trip to be interesting and amusing if nothing else. She was somewhat worried when they were told to build their own shelter and that tents hadn't been brought along. Juliette helped her with hers though and it stood up well enough throughout the night. She was glad they had sleeping bags at least.

Around the camp fire that night the other cliffhangers tried to scare her by telling her exaggerated tales of past hikes they had been on. Leah fell asleep with their descriptions swimming in her head. When she woke up she felt pretty good. The air had a nice quality to it that only seems to appear in the wilderness early in the morning. Leah felt a deep breath. She had decided something in the night.

I'm here until I'm 18. That's the court sentence. This place is bad and good. It's like living normally and not at the same time. People were nice before and helped me and my family when we needed it with heat and other things. People were cruel when they punished me for not making my probation appointment. I think there is a little of both in everything and who knows which it will be each time, but it seems to even itself out well enough. So I'll just try to learn what I can here. Maybe make friends, maybe not, but people are like that everywhere. Let's see what I can get out of this, she thought.

She watched the sunrise over the mountains and heard the noises of the other cliffhangers moving around in their half asleep states. She heard Shelby curse and frowned as she remembered her existence.

Well, things could be different, Leah thought. Like I wonder if I would get in much trouble for pushing Shelby off a mountain, she thought with a smile.

THE END


End file.
